


Eden's Day Off

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-21
Updated: 2017-11-21
Packaged: 2019-02-05 02:17:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12784803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Eden tries to take a day off. Unfortunately, the citizens of Jorvik did not get this memo. Eden belongs to sso-eden-dawnvalley on tumblr.





	Eden's Day Off

Eden adjusted her sunglasses after dismounting her horse and pulled her loose wrap skirt a little tighter around herself. Her bikini needed no adjusting, thank goodness, as nothing had shifted around too much on the ride over to Fort Pinta. And there was the large expanse of white sand, just begging her to lay on one of the beach towels spread out for tourists, crack open a good book (or a good fanfiction) and just relax. And that was exactly what Eden intended to do.

Finding the perfect beach towel in the perfect spot, Eden left Phoenix in the shade of the trees and walked over to the towel, where she kicked off her flip-flops, sat down, leaned back, and unlocked her phone. She’d been reading the best fanfiction last night, and fortunately, she still had the page open on her phone. Thanks to her sunglasses and the shade of the umbrella, Eden could read the text on the screen easily, and she did for a good few pages, quickly becoming engrossed in the story of two lovers on the opposing sides of an intergalactic war.

Unfortunately, Eden’s peace was not to last.

“Eeeeeedeeeeen,” James called, running down the slope from Fort Pinta, and Eden sighed grumpily, having been pulled out of a very good scene, and directed her glare at the pint-sized Day Ruiner.

“What?” asked Eden, not caring if she sounded grumpy. She’d worked extra hard all week, getting all of her chores done and her horses trained, specifically so that she could have this Tuesday off. And now here came James, calling her name in his whiny voice.

“Can you look after the horses for me?” asked James. “They really need feeding and watering.”

“And why can’t you do it?” asked Eden. “It takes five minutes, James.”

“Because I’ve got a date,” said James, with a grin that looked more relieved than it did happy to have a girlfriend.

“And you can’t get anyone else to do it because…?” Eden asked, deciding against taking her sunglasses off. The beach was very bright, and taking her sunglasses off now was a great way of blinding oneself.

“They all ran away,” said James.

“Gee, I can’t imagine why,” Eden muttered, but she sighed and got up. “Alright, I’ll do it, it’ll only take five minutes.”

Just as she’d predicted, feeding and watering the horses only took Eden five minutes, and she was soon climbing back onto Phoenix. But, as she rode past the disco, the security guard hailed her.

“Miss Dawnvalley! Report!” he barked. Eden sighed heavily, but turned Phonenix around to face him.

“What?” asked Eden, getting more than a little irritated.

“I have run out of food for my little pup,” said the security guard. “Could you buy some more for me? I’ll give you the money for it.”

“The pet shop is right there,” said Eden, gesturing to the Fort Pinta chapter of Pet Shop Girls.

“I know, so it shouldn’t take you too long,” said the security guard. “Go on now, I’d go only I can’t leave my post.”

“Yeah, can’t have any horses on the dancefloor,” Eden muttered as she trudged into the pet shop. The sight of the cute faces did cheer her up a little, but she really just wanted to get back to her fanfiction on the beach.

But, when she rode back down to the beach, Eden saw that the beach was more crowded than it had been. She sighed, turning Phoenix and riding over towards Moorland instead. It might be more peaceful over there, especially with so many new riders milling about and willing to help. Loretta had other ideas.

“Eden! Like, there you are,” said Loretta, flipping her blonde hair. “Can you, like, muck out some stalls for me? I’d do it, but, you know, I have newbies to look after…”

“Can you, like, take a long walk off a short pier,” Eden mimicked, and imagined that she was piling the manure onto Loretta’s face as she shovelled dung. Julie spotted her just as she was leaving.

“Hey, Eden, can you-“

“Fine,” Eden growled through grit teeth, taking the hoof pick and clutching it in her clenched fist. But she was gentle while she cleaned out the horses’ hooves.

Maya wanted her to milk the cow. Thomas wanted her to check inventory. Jenna wanted her to help go through the receipts. Tan wanted her to hold a ball of wool while she knitted a sweater for the coming winter. Every single Bobcat Girl, it seemed, had a task.

Once she finally escaped from Moorland, Eden rode Phoenix at a gallop over to the Harvest Counties. The people over here were more competent, surely they wouldn’t need her help to paint nails or whatever.

“Eden, hi!” Ed Field called as Eden tried to sneak past his inn. She clutched the reins tightly, and Phoenix snorted, sharing his rider’s annoyance. “I need some more ingredients, can you go collect some from Martina for me?” Eden almost cried. Not the Sunfields. Not those hens. Not again. But her good heart (and the 100 shillings Ed offered) wouldn’t let her refuse. Though Eden felt dread settle into her bones as she rode into the horse trailer.

The Sunfield farm was distressingly absent of chicken noises, and Eden felt like crying. When Filip began to approach her, she groaned and rolled her eyes.

“Hey Eden, my hens have gone missing again, can you-“ Filip asked.

“Yes, I’ll find them after I get back from Ed’s,” said Eden, waiting while Martina packed the crates full of farm goods (there was manure in there too, and Eden reinstated her desire to never, not even if someone paid her, eat at Wolf Hall Inn). Looking around, she couldn’t see the cat either, and Saga was carrying around a lunchbox. Great…

After returning the chickens, Eden grabbed a pair of pliers and some chicken wire, and repaired the cage that still had a gaping hole in it from when Tristan had stolen the chickens.

“Try escaping now,” Eden spat at them, and rode away to the Forgotten Fields, going through the city to give Gavin his lunch first. And replace the lights. And paint pedestrian crossings. And count the fire hydrants. And put signs on the wall. And clip the nails of the pets, and wash the pets, and get more pet food of every kind, and do the chores at Jorvik Stables, and fetch more stock for every shop owner…

“Eden! The mill is broken,” said Jakob Goldspur, and Eden almost screamed. She hadn’t even gone to the lower farm! But she repaired the mill, moved the sacks of grain, weeded out the fields, fed the animals, played hide and seek with the twins, and gave Jakob his lunch before she finally found her freedom in the Forgotten Fields.

Eden sat down against one of the low stone fences, leaving Phoenix to graze before her, got comfortable, and got her phone out. She navigated to the page again and smiled as she began to read where she’d left off.

And then a black bag was plunged over her head, and Phoenix whinnied. Eden growled, dropping her phone, and grabbed the bottom of the bag. It began to smolder, and then burned. Someone yelped, and the bag fell as ashes onto Eden’s shoulders. She stood, and whirled to face her attackers. One Darko and two other Dark Riders (Sabine was nowhere to be seen, but Eden could tell by Phoenix’s angry neighing that she was there too) stood on the other side of the fence, looking quite frightened.

“All I wanted was one day off, was that too much to ask?” Eden snapped, her eyes blazing with holy light, and held her glowing palms up. The Dark Riders, clearly not expecting this, turned to flee, but Eden managed to hit all of them with Soul Strike. Their horses were nowhere to be seen, but they’d probably been put elsewhere to make sneaking up on her easier. Oh well. Their riders would find them once they awoke from their impromptu naps. Phoenix reared and finally succeeded in knocking Sabine to the ground before he sent her off to the land of nod with a ‘gentle’ tap to the head with a hoof.

This time, Eden stuck to the wilderness on her search for solitude. She didn’t see one person, not even Ed Field because she took the road up behind the inn. And at last, Eden found solitude. It came in the Eastern Slopes, in the shade against the fence that looked out onto Moorland. Eden sat down, sighing in relief at just how peaceful it was. No people out here, not even any animals that needed her help. There was just Eden and her fanfiction, and Phoenix of course. It wasn’t relaxing on the beach like she’d envisioned her day going, but Eden was glad for this little bit of peace at least.


End file.
